Your expertise is needed!!!

I went to Lincoln Park this afternoon to try out my new Orvis Zero rod, which is a beautiful and a very powerful rod and once again the PS skunked me!!! Rezzies were jumping all around me for well over two hours and I tried just about every fly in my box, with a variety of retrives and not one bump. I used both topwater and sinking flies. Does anyone know what the heck they are jumping for? Secondly, I deducted that maybe they were chasing bait, if so, why wouldn't I get a bump on a clouser. Is a much better bait pattern out there that I need to tie? In March, I would strip clousers, both on a floating and intermediate line and would walk away with a sweet smile on my face, but the last three times, I have seen just about every fish in the Sound jump out of the water, but have not had one hit. I tell ya, between women and fish, just when you think you have them figured out, they skunk ya!!

were they jumping completely out of the water?
Lots of times guys will tell me that they are seeing fish jumping all over the place when in fact they are just seeing schools of herring flipping on the surface.
if they were in fact residents and you could cast right to the swirls, i would have gone with a small chartruese shrimp pattern. Usually they are damned agressive so i can't believe that they were all residents and you didnt get one.

What was interesting is that they were totally clearing the water when they jumped. Yes, some were small herring, but others were well over 18" Another fly fisherman and I were casting right too them and he finally tied on a wolly bugger and never bumped a thing. Frustrating but fun to watch!

One other suggestion i have is to go with a bigger pattern. I have seen lots of 3-4 inch sandlance and herring lately and it could be that the fish were keyed in on this bigger stuff. A #2 olive/white clouser or something similar seems to do ok when the fish are focused on the larger baits. AND if there is just a ton of bait, go with something that will stand out, i.e. chartreuse or pink.

I have found through the years that salmon and searun cutts have rise forms like their freshwater cousins.

When a spray of bait is followed by a swirl, slash or head and tail rise, you can be fairly certain the fish is chasing bait. Even if you don't see the bait trying to escape, swirls and slashes are signs of actively feeding salmonids. Salmon are also prone to "happy jumping" that is, there is always someone in the school that telegraphs everyone else's presence by simply clearing the water. As near as I can guess, they are happy to be alive. I simply thank them for letting me know they are around and continue to throw my popper in their direction. Searuns are fairly purposeful and rarely "happy jump." When you see them, they are feeding.

I was on a beach fishing once when I saw behavior in SRC as you describe, jumping completely out of the water. There also was a seal just off the beach working the same water. I was convinced by the pattern of timing and location of the seal dives and fish jumps that the fish were escaping predatory attacks by the seal in much the same fashion that one sees 'baitfish' jumping when a SRC is pursuing them. I kept casting to those spots, but never had a touch, which also would be consistent with fish that were escaping predation rather than being predators.
Dick

You are definitely correct. At Lincoln Park, I have seen seals all the time, in fact, they even cub on the beach. Part of their jumping is out of fright, but I do agree as well with Leland, with the numbers of fish that were jumping, they are happy jumping!!! I don't know why they do that, but I have seen Finding Nemo and let me tell ya, they do have individual personalities. Maybe the jumpers of the group are single males like me that are trying to find a female. Ugh, you can only jump so high and so much, before you say, "What in the heck to women want!!" I feel their pain!!!! HaHaHaHaHa

Jumping fish going straight up tend to be the "happy jumpers", and don't seem to be very interested in taking a fly, as opposed to Coho or SRC jumping at an angle, which seem definitely to be in feeding mode, at least I have a much higher percentages of hook ups with those guys than the more verticle jumpers.